Schroders Greencoat has completed the acquisition of the largest UK solar project to date.
Tiln Farm is a 49.9MWac solar farm and co-located energy storage project developed by Lighsource bp. It is based near Retford, Nottinghamshire.
Schroders Greencoat. Is a specialist renewable investment manager, that provides asset management services to a number of master trusts and pension schemes. Lightsource bp will continue to provide asset management and operations and maintenance services for the project via its in-house team.
The sale of this project forms part of Lightsource bp’s long-term growth strategy and enables the company to continue growing at pace, further expanding its investment profile across a number of projects.
It also demonstrates Lightsource bp’s commitment to forming long-term partnerships with asset owners, while continuing to provide operations and maintenance and asset management services. It says this deonstates how renewable energy partnerships between developers, investors and corporations can play a vital role in progressing the energy transition.
Tiln Farm providies power to Northamptonshire-based building products manufacturer Forterra via a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA). This agreement will see the farm provide the brick, block, and concrete producer with around 70 percent of its electricity needs — providing renewable energy to Forterra’s 17 sites for 15 years.
Schroders Greencoat investment director Matt Tingle says: “Co-located assets like this have an important role to play in balancing intermittent renewable energy generation, as well as delivering vital grid stability services. Sharing the same grid connection also helps to optimise increasingly scarce grid capacity as the UK transitions towards net zero.
“As the largest manager of operating ground mount solar farms in the UK, this acquisition adds to our diverse UK portfolio. It will play an important part in meeting our investment objectives, helping to deliver long-term inflation-linked cashflows to our investors.”
